There is something different and wonderful about Chamorro sweet bread. These are little dinner rolls shaped so perfectly! I remembered them at parties: foil-lined, half-soda boxes filled with bread, golden brown on top, with a butter-sugar glaze. Some folks used lots of buttery-sugary goo, others kept it light. Either way, Chamorro sweet bread has a distinct taste, texture, and smell.

I could not find a “Chamorro” sweet bread recipe so to speak. I did some on-line research on sweet bread, looked through my cookbooks, read the ingredients list of King’s Hawaiian Sweet Bread, and asked some older Chamorros. I found a couple of recipes for Portuguese sweet bread. Those original recipes didn’t turn out quite right. The directions for shaping the bread were different from the shaping of Chamorro sweet bread. I made my adjustments to the ingredients / directions. I think the secret ingredient is mashed potatoes! So, here is my rendition of Chamorro sweet bread. Careful, they are addictive! The rolls are a bit dense though moist; it is soft, but not as soft as King's Hawaiian Rolls.

I prefer to use my digital scale to help make the balls of dough as similar as possible. I measure each ball to 1.5 oz., about the size of a golf ball. This fills one 9x13 and two, 8x8 pans, yielding approximately 56 rolls. I used glass baking ware, though I’ll have to try lining a half soda box with heavy-duty foil to see how it turns out.

There are several ways to roll out the dough into balls. I learned to use both hands at the same time. Place the ball of dough on a clean surface. Hold hands as if to pray. Open hands over the dough to encircle it. Being sure to feel the dough against your palms, quickly move palms in a clockwise fashion. This takes a bit of practice so watch the video below before making the bread.

Note: You may also melt just butter then brush a light coating over the hot bread. Cool completely.

Check this out: I made a batch two days before Thanksgiving one year. It remained soft for Thanksgiving day and nearly a week in total before I had to reheat it in the microwave. I froze half of this same batch once it cooled completely (wrapped twice in plastic wrap then placed into two freezer bags). The day before Christmas, I thawed it out on the counter for Christmas lunch (kept it in the plastic wrap and freezer bags). OMG, it was still soft and moist as is, without reheating, on Christmas day...not as soft as freshly baked bread, but wonderfully great! When reheated, it was sooo delish.